Requiem: Darkness
by Jackson Overland Frost
Summary: "Who said I wanted to be a Guardian?" There was a reason I was a loner. No one was safe around me... This was something I had been kicking around for a while; since I first saw the trailers, really. Basically, my twisted mind saying "What if Jack wasn't just bringer of winter?" Rated for drowning, (later) violence, and potential language usage.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'd been kicking this idea around for ages, not really sure if it was "good enough" to be posted. It was inspired by a few things, really. Firstly, the line from one of the trailers, "Who said I wanted to be a Guardian?". Secondly, a RotG Jack Frost AMV over on YouTube, using the song "O Death". Lastly... This writing I had found; "Angel of Death" (Udiah, Witness to Yah). I dunno, really. My mind is just twisted or something. In any event... Here it is. Requiem: Darkness.

* * *

In darkness of the night

I spied him in a tree

Sat I froze by the sight

He was looking at me

The summer's heat became a chill

The angel of death at his kill

My heart skipped with the fright

Blinked my eyes to bet'r see

Glanced back with all my might

Parted he my comp'ny

My chest was quickly pounding still

The angel of death at his kill

I did rise and take flight

The fear made me to flee

From darkness into light

To free captivity

Unbinding my soul from his will

The angel of death at his kill

Many years since that night

Gazed I on that braz'n be

Mem'ries of still incite

Fears of my slavery

Existence of him makes me ill

The angel of death at his kill

* * *

I stood beside the gate of the churchyard, watching as each came to pay his or her respects to the recently deceased. His name was Jackson Overland. He was me, I was he. Never was I to be held by the rules of the Daylight again.

My time was now spent for a greater cause. You wish to know what that cause is? I was chosen. Chosen to be the next angel. Others could argue I was to be a demon, but that is beside the point.

You could say that my first target was myself. I _knew_ I was to die. I let them take me. I can see the confusion in your eyes. You shouldn't worry too much. All your questions should be answered in the story I am about to tell you...

* * *

"Lottie, hurry up already! I don't have all day!" I called up the stairs.

"Coming, Jack!" I rolled my eyes as my ten-year-old sister ran downstairs full speed, succeeding in knocking both the coffee table and herself over.

"Finally... Time for some fun, right?" She nodded, and I helped her to button her bulky coat. It would be worth it once we got over to the lake.

See, I had to watch her and her friends while they went skating. They were literally playing on thin ice.

I was worried; it wasn't uncommon for a child to drown or get Frost's Bite. Lacing up my skates, I was completely ready to get out there if something happened.

_If someone must go today, take me._ Yeah. I had pretty much just signed my life away with those words.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Oh, wow. I thought I'd be shot right out this fandom. Glad to see I was wrong (so far...) Now, I've not seen the movie yet. I've only heard Jack's "death-scene" from my cousins, so if something is off, I am terribly sorry; I'm just working with what I have.

**CreCra**- I added the demon thing in because my grandparents once told me the _Angel_ of Death is actually a demon; and that he works for _Lucifer_. I honestly don't really look into religious stuff that much, so I don't really know if what they _think_ is true. Oh, and to your question about whether this is about Jack's Death/Guardianship/Other, I shall say "all of the above". Sorry if I'm confusing you more.

Disclaimer: I do not own **Rise of the Guardians** (Dreamworks Animation does) or _The Art of Drowning _(Billy Collins does).

* * *

I wonder how it all got started, this business  
about seeing your life flash before your eyes  
while you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence,  
could startle time into such compression, crushing  
decades in the vice of your desperate, final seconds.

After falling off a steamship or being swept away  
in a rush of floodwaters, wouldn't you hope  
for a more leisurely review, an invisible hand  
turning the pages of an album of photographs-  
you up on a pony or blowing out candles in a conic hat.

How about a short animated film, a slide presentation?  
Your life expressed in an essay, or in one model photograph?  
Wouldn't any form be better than this sudden flash?  
Your whole existence going off in your face  
in an eyebrow-singeing explosion of biography-  
nothing like the three large volumes you envisioned.

Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance  
here, some bolt of truth forking across the water,  
an ultimate Light before all the lights go out,  
dawning on you with all its megalithic tonnage.  
But if something does flash before your eyes  
as you go under, it will probably be a fish,

a quick blur of curved silver darting away,  
having nothing to do with your life or your death.  
The tide will take you, or the lake will accept it all  
as you sink toward the weedy disarray of the bottom,  
leaving behind what you have already forgotten,  
the surface, now overrun with the high travel of clouds.

* * *

They were sliding around on the surface of the lake, and I slowly began to relax. The ice seemed to be holding up well enough, so there was no sense in not having some fun as well.  
"Jack, race you to the Tree!" That was one of Charlotte's friends, Sara.  
"I'll give you a head start, or you won't stand a chance!" That certainly was true; no one could beat me when it came to skating.  
"Fine!" She started off a little shaky, but soon managed to straighten out.  
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Ready or not, here I come!" Shoving off, I rapidly gained ground. "Coming up on your left!"  
I was just reaching out to tap the tree's trunk when I heard the scream. Whirling around, my blood turned to ice. Charlotte was plopped on the ice, a spider webbing of fractures blossoming underneath her. _"Jack, I'm scared!"_  
"Don't worry... Everything will be alright..." _If anyone can hear me now, take me instead!_ "Let's play a game."  
I gripped my shepherd's crook tightly with one hand, untying my skates with the other. My eyes never left her's.  
"One..." I took a tentative step towards her, holding my breath as cracks appeared under my foot.  
"Two..." Luckily, I found a part that was more solid than the rest. I put my whole weight on it, nearly loosing my balance in the process.  
"Three." She was just out of my reach. "Now it's your turn. You'll be fine, I promise."  
"O-okay..." She hesitantly stepped out, and I winced as the ice cracked more under her weight. Two quick steps, and I had her hooked around the middle with my staff. I swung her towards the lakeshore, but my relief was short-lived.  
_"Oh, yes. I shall indeed take you in her place..."_ A voice whispered in my ear, and then the ice gave out beneath me.

* * *

After the initial shock of the icy cold water, I struggled to get back to the surface. My head emerged for a few moments, but I was being dragged down by _something_. Fighting upwards again, I grabbed onto the edge of the ice shelf.

"Jackson! Hold on, I'll get you out of there!" I could barely hear my father over my frantic attempts at staying above the surface. The ice was fragmenting each time I grasped at it, almost like some force was trying to make me drown.

I swallowed water. So much water... Darkness was closing in on my vision, but I _couldn't_ die. _Not now!_ I wanted to scream, but water only rushed into my open mouth._ Why can't I die at a later point of time?_

_"Is that your wish?" _There, that voice again. A pair of red eyes, then nothingness...


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** OK, I'm not that pleased with this chapter. I've rewritten it over ten times, but it just doesn't seem right. Probably because I feel pressured with all this attention my lame story has gotten. Plus, I just saw the movie… Once the plot picks up, the chapters will get longer. Anyway, here's a quick **disclaimer**: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters. And now, here's the story…

* * *

Ice coursed through my veins, and I struggled to hear the faint voices; anything that would keep me from fading.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Charlotte's voice cut through the darkness in a way the other, quieter mumblings could not. "No! He can't die! He said everything would be alright! He promised!"

Wake up, Jackson. You can do it. This voice was calming, and kind. So unlike the other bodiless voice…

My eyelids fluttered open, though my eyes could not focus on the shapes around me; they were illuminated oddly, as if by fire. I was certain there was no fire, it was too damn cold.

"Lottie…" My voice was barely a whisper.

"Jack! You're OK!"

A part of me wanted to say, 'No, I'm freezing and I can't tell where I am', but I settled for, "I guess so."

A crow called nearby, and the adults shifted uncertainly. Crows were thought to be bringers of death. Actually… that sounded pretty nice about now. I would feel warmer than I was now, at least.

Jackson, you are halfway to me. I can help you- just give in to the cold. It took me a moment to process that it was the First Voice, as I'd come to call it.

"OK…" The crow flew overhead, momentarily blocking out the Moon. I exhaled for the last time in this life.

* * *

My ice blue eyes darted around the clearing. It was unusual that I hadn't gotten my assignment yet.

Just then, a large crow landed on the tree branch to my left. It's beady black eye stared straight at me, and the name of my target was passed silently into my thoughts. Maria Overland. The name sounded somewhat familiar, but I discarded that thought as quickly as it had come.

I nodded my thanks, and flew quickly to the colony of Burgess. Thanks to the wind, I made it there in a few minutes.

Locating my prey, I smiled. She was weak and sick; obviously, she hadn't been taking care of herself for a little under a month. Since… since my death. She can't possibly be…

My thoughts were interrupted when droplets of a burning liquid hit me in the back of the head. I whirled around with a feral hiss, prey momentarily forgotten.

"You…" I narrowed my eyes at him. Father Williams. "I will be back. This will not spare her life."

I leapt into the wind before I could be further assaulted by his Holy Water.


End file.
